Clutch-shifting mechanism



March 4 1924.

1,485,419 P. P. LA MONTAGNE CLUTCH SHIFTING MECHANISM Filed July 13 1 921 v v Elma/Mom v Patric/[P [afifazzfayzzez Patented Mar. 4, 1924.

PATRICK P. LA MONTAGNE, F KANKAKEE, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOB, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, T0 POPE MACHINE COMPANY, OF KANKAKEE; ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

CLUTCH-SIHIFTING MECHANISM.

' Application filed July 13,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PATRICK P. LA MON- TAGNE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kankakee, in the county of Kankakee and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clutch-Shifting Mechanism, of which the following is a specification, reference being a had therein to the accompanying drawing. f This invention relates primarily to clutch shifting mechanism; and has more especial reference to devices for arresting, at the will of the operator, action of driven'mecha-v nism which, from time to time, may be brought into driving connection with a prime mover. l y The object of the invention is to provide a simple but effective device in operative, association with, say, a machine for uniting or sewing together the edges of knitted goods or looped fabrics, this device being, adapted to arrest the action of the loop-supporting structure and the sewing mechanism of such a machine whenever vthisis necessary or desirable. r

Machines of this general type are well known in the art and usually include either a continuously or an intermittently rotating work-supporting ring carrying a -circular series of radially-projecting impalingpins upon which the edges of the knitted or looped fabric to be united are superposed and sewed together by an associated stitchforming or sewing mechanism which places a line of stitching immediately above the 'impaling-pins in the projecting edges of the fabric. The articles to be sewed together are successively impaled upon the pins by both hands of the operator. Fromtime to arrest rotation of the pin-supporting ring and actuation of the stitch-forming mechanism, and heretofore this has been'accomplished by moving, with one hand, a clutchoperating handle or lever, whereby a slidable clutch-member is disconnected from the driving pulley to permit the aforementioned mechanisms to come to rest. The necessity for the operator manually to move the clutch operating handle means that she must, for the time being, use one of he'rh'ands for this purpose and, thus, interrupt the handling of the fabric involved in impaling such fabric upon the pin-supporting. ringhMoreover, inasmuch as the clutchbperating hantime, it is essential or desirable to stop or 1 1921. Serial No, 484,469.

dle is disposed atthe rear of the pin supporting ring, the operator must extend her arm across the'ring in order to operate the handle. Thisis not only" inconvenient but somewhat dangerous in that her arm is liable to be injured by'the traveling points of the impalingjpins. 1 v

It is the object of the present invention to eliminate the'movement, by hand, of the clutch-operating handle" and "to' provide mechanism connected to the shifting mechanismand actuated by the foot of the' operator vwhereby the operation of the clutch may be more quickly and conveniently effected, and without necessity for the operator using her hands for that purpose.

It is a further object within thecontemplation of my inventionto provide means,

' operatively associated with the clutch-shifts ing mechanism, whereby, when the'same is actuated by, the foot of the operator, it

shall be automatically set as adjusted and remain so until the operator again operates the same.- i Other objects and advantages reside in the present invention, as will be obvious from the following description. V

In order that the invention maybe more readily understood by those skilled in the art, I have, in the accompanying drawings, shown a preferred embodiment thereof; but it is to be understood that this disclosure is, for the most part, merely illustrative and that other embodiments and utilizations may be resorted to, and that there may be a wide range of modification and variation of the structures herein specifically revealed without departing from the salient features and underlying principles of the invention.

In these drawings: 7 p s Figure 1 is a view in top plan showing mechanism applied to a machine for uniting knit fabrics, the machine, in this instance, being-of a hosiery-looper type, Y Fig. 2 is a fragmentaryview, intfront elevation, of the shifter-operating mechanism of my invention;

'my improved foot-operated clutch-shifting Fig. 3'is a view in side elevation thereof;

Fig. 4 is a view in vertical section, on the line 4-4, Fig. 3 and Figs. 5 and 6 are views in perspective and sectional elevation, respectively, of a pedalsetting element which forms a component of the shifter-operating mechanism.

Referring to these drawings, the reference characterl'designates the usual bed-plate of a machine for uniting knit fabrics, and upstanding from this is an outwardly-projecting supporting arm 2.

Rotatably mounted beneath the arm is a supporting disk or dial plate 3 encompassed by a ring member 4 provided with a periph eral series of outwardly-projecting impaling-pins 5. The loops of the fabric to be united are placed over the impaling-pins, in a manner'well understood in the art, and the ring of impaling-pins is given movement either continuous or intermittent, according to the type of machine to which my improv d tr t e is appl e The driving mechanism for the machine includes a main shaft 6 suitably supported in journals 7, and on which a driving pulley 8 is mounted. The driving shaft 6 is pr e ith a crank 9 f r manually r teens h sh t; ut, usua ly, the s af is dri n. y th p ley which s adapt to be c n ected to the h t by means of a i y mounted clutch-member 10 adapted to be actuated for a driving connection with the pulley by a shifter-member 11 operating on a horizontal axis 12 in a bracket 13 outstanding from the bed-plate 1. Attached to the shifter-member 11 is an actuatinglever 1e. Eivotally attached to the lever is a connecting-rod 15 which, through an adjustable block 16, is connected to a second rod 17 that, in turn, is pivotally connected at t lower, e d to a arm or extens o 18 h ch rms a Par Q a fo t-p dal 19 Or similar device. The feet-pedal operates on a fulcrumrelement 20 mounted on a fulcrum o seme he a apted 9 re 111 .9 or be cu ed o'the floorcompass n th ulrmmsl mwt i a pe a t n m nt which in t stance, is shown as a washer 22. As shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, this washer comprises a peripheral portion 23 and a central portion e vlatter ein Prov ded With as p ing 2 f su cie t dimen ons 9 e mi the fulcrum-element 20 to extend therethrough. sh wn in F s- 4: or n tan he en portion 24 of the washer is engaged by the head of the fulcrum-element, Qtf-in this inst nce, a hol -while p riph ral Po e a s a nendan pertn 6 of the pe (see Fig. The construction is such that the Washer pre ws a ndin whe tween the head of the bolt 20 and the penda t p rt n 26 where y the p da wil main in any position inwhic'h it may beset by h fo t it er r te l onseqr he e er t e peda s se by 'tl s ol sdevice 22, so also will be the parts connected t r wi so that theehi shi-shifi i' will likew e e en ineere 19 he d c t member 10 in IQ' 92? sna anteen It will now be perceived that, by the structure above described, the clutch-member 19 may be actuated at will and by the foot of the operator without the necessity for her to reach over or under the pin-carr ing dial to start or stop the machine; and, while this operation is being accomplished, the washer 22 functions to hold the pedal and its adjunctive parts in any set position, wherein it will remain until the operator further moves the pedal 19 toactuate the various parts connected therewith.

The adjustable block 16 permits the elongation of the connection between the lever 12 and the link 18 whenever this may be necessary. Likewise, an adjusting screw 27" on the lever 14 permits adjustment of the lever on the member 11 whereby the throw of the member 11-and thus of the shifting member 10may be varied as may be desired.

When the clutch-member 10 is actuated into driving connection with the pulley 8, the drive shaft 6 is set in motion whereupon a gear '28 thereon rotates a pinion 29 fast on a worm shaft 30 that meshes with a worm gear 31 which, by means not shown, effects rotative movement of the pin-carrying ring 4.

By means of mechanism designated generally by the reference-character 32, the sewing-mechanism, indicated by the reference character 33, is operated during the rotation of the shaft 6. In consequence, when the shifter-member 10 is out of driving connection with the pulley 8, operation of the worm 30 and gear 31 is arrested, with consequent arresting of the pin-carrying ring a and, at the same time the connecting mechanism 32 is thrown out of operation, with the result that the sewing mechanism is likewise arrested. Therefore, by means of my improved clutch-shifting mechanism, motion of the pin-carr ing ring and the sewing mechanism may e started or arrested and, by means of the setting-device 22, the parts are retained in the set position to which they have been moved by the operator through the foot-pedal 19.

What I claim is:

shifter-operating mechanism comprising a support provided with an opening therein; a. treadle-member having an extended portion provided with an opening adapted to cooperate with the opening in the support; the corresponding faces of the extended portion of the treadle and support constituting a friction area; a securing means passing through the openings in the support and extension and forcing the members together-j and a washer having a sharpened edge-portion engaging a surface of one of, the members, said washer having a ridged portion intermediate its edges bowed to constitute a resilient clutch-element and pro= vided with an opening for the reception of In testimony whereof I aifix my signature 7 the securing means, whereby tightening of in presence of two witnesses. the securing means will force the sharp edgeportion of the washer against a portion of PATRICK LA MONTAGNE'. 5 one of the elements, the ridged portion act- Witnesses:

ing to reinforce the washer and resist defor- En. HOENNICKE,

mation thereof. D. G. DRESKA. 

